The story of Alan Turing has a hold on the world's imagination. A Northerner post on the subject in January was the most-viewed item on the Guardian's whole website that week. Now the chair of the centenary celebrations, Prof Barry Cooper, starts a series of guest posts for us

Ray Kurzweil launched the Singularity University at TED earlier this year. As the first students graduate, Bobbie Johnson visits the campus to speak to Salim Ismail, the executive director of the project, as well as students and tutors to find out how rapid technological change could help the world